Sunday lives with her sixteen year old daughter Dolly, the same house she has lived in all her life. She does things differently from other people, but mostly it works. On her and "quiet days and " she must eat only white foods. For social situations, she has her etiquette hand book, and for solace her beloved treasury of Sicilian folklore. But the one thing very much out of her control is Dolly - beautiful, headstrong Dolly who is on the cusp of leaving home.Into this carefully ordered life step Vita and Rollo, a glamorous London couple who move in next door, disarm Sunday with their wit and charm, and proceed to deliciously break just about every rule in her etiquette manual. Soon the two families are in and out of each others houses, and Sunday feels loved and accepted like never before. But beneath Vita and Rollo's charm and wealth there is something else, something darker. And Sunday has something that Vita has always wanted for herself, a beautiful, clever daughter of her own.